News Briefs

Medical College of Georgia gets a brand new name: Say goodbye to the Medical College of Georgia and hello to the Georgia Health Sciences University. The state’s sole public medical college will have a new name effective Feb. 1. The new name reflects that the Augusta institution offers more than just medical degrees, college President Ricardo Azziz told the state Board of Regents in September. MCG also offers programs in nursing, dentistry, allied health and graduate studies.

The new name “better defines our institution as what it is — a comprehensive health sciences university and a modern academic health center,” Azziz said.

Azziz estimated it will cost about $2.9 million to implement the name change, with the largest expense allocated to new signs. He assured the regents that the “return in investment is actually very high.”

The MCG name will not go away entirely. The medical school within the college, currently called MCG’s School of Medicine, will be renamed Medical College of Georgia.

GPC pilot program: Massive drug reference guides and medical textbooks will be shelved this fall for Georgia Perimeter College nursing students. Instead, first-year students — and their instructors — have been handed 64GB iPod Touches, while second-year students received 64GB iPads.

The students are participating in a pilot program that loans them the mobile devices for a year. Financed through a grant from the college’s student technology fund, the devices are loaded with special health science applications that allow them to download classroom lectures, videos and podcasts from an iTunes account.

Georgia Perimeter’s nursing program is using an app that takes the place of the nursing drug reference and medical surgery textbooks. Nursing students also are able to download podcasts from lectures and step-by-step tutorials for basic nursing skills.

As part of the pilot progam, the college’s Office of Institutional Research study will track student success in the classroom and their use of the devices.

New associate dean: Sandra Dunbar has been named associate dean for academic advancement at Emory University’s Nell Hodgson Woodruff School of Nursing. In the new position, Dunbar, DSN, RN, FAAN, FAHA, is charged with creating an infrastructure to support the development of academic leaders within the school of nursing.

Since joining Emory’s nursing school in 1988, Dunbar has been a pioneer in cardiovascular disease nursing research. She is leading three National Institutes of Health studies focused on reducing caregiver stress and enhancing the quality of life among heart-failure patients with diabetes.

Visionary leader: Lisa Eichelberger, dean of Clayton State University’s College of Health, will be recognized as a visionary leader. In conjunction with its 60th anniversary, the school of nursing at the University of Alabama at Birmingham will honor 60 visionary leaders, including alumnus Eichelberger.

Eichelberger, who co-authored a textbook on nursing theory, recently published the second edition of her book, “Understanding the Work of Nurse Theorists: A Creative Beginning.” The textbook uses art to make the work of nursing theorists simple to understand.

Hail to the chief: Greg Sanchez, a staffing professional with more than 20 years of experience in health care operations and recruiting, has been named president of Travel Nurse Solutions, which supplies temporary nurses to health care providers.

Sanchez has served as regional vice president for a major medical staffing company and as director of health care operations and physician recruiting for a division of the U.S. Army.

Networking event: The Atlanta Area chapter of the Association of Clinical Research Professionals will hold its third annual networking event at the Carter Center Cyprus Room on Oct. 26 from 5:30 to 8:30 p.m.

There will be door prizes and a buffet dinner. The event costs $20 for Atlanta chapter members and $25 for others.

For information, contact Carole Ehleben (cmecear@msn.com), Susan Benson (bensonsh@bellsouth.net) or Ward Hobbs (ward.hobbs@va.gov).

To register, go to www.acrpnet.org and link to Atlanta Chapter-Upcoming Events.

Sepsis study: Beth NeSmith, assistant professor of physiological and technological nursing in the Medical College of Georgia School of Nursing in Augusta, has received a three-year, $281,000 National Institutes of Health grant to examine risk factors for sepsis and organ failure following trauma.

Sepsis, an uncontrolled systemic infection commonly known as blood poisoning, and associated organ failure are the leading causes of in-hospital trauma deaths, yet little data exist to explain differences in population vulnerability to these deadly outcomes. A trauma clinical nurse specialist at MCG Health System from 1997 to 2003, NeSmith believes lifetime chronic stress may be the culprit and a simple test on hair may identify those at risk.

NeSmith is collaborating on the grant with Dr. John Catravas, director of the MCG Vascular Biology Center.

GSW grants: The Georgia Southwestern State University School of Nursing in Americus was recently awarded scholarship funding through two one-year grants. The school recieved $46,637 from the Scholarships for Disadvantaged Students program (SDS) and $30,589 through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.